It has long been known to use hot water or steam to transfer heat in space heating applications. Modern hot water heating systems have many advantages, including the ability to control the temperature of different rooms individually and the ability to use any of a variety of efficient central heat sources. Such heating systems typically warm the floor; however, wall or ceiling based heat may also be used.
In typical modern hot water heating systems, water manifolds allow regulation of water flow through pipes separating from the main line, thereby allowing better control over the fluid flow rate and heat transfer to specific areas. Such manifolds are typically assembled from cylindrical tubular pieces that are held in place by rods that must be custom manufactured and assembled for installation. The rod is inserted into and through channels defined in the manifold components. As a result, the cost of both the components and their assembly is greatly increased. In many applications this can be a significant obstacle to the use of a hot water space heating system.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a hot water space heating system having a manifold that can be manually assembled without the use of connecting rods, extensive tools, and that does not require components defining the channels associated with the rod assembly technique.